Summer Services 2023

Yes, Gimli Unitarian Church will be open this summer! We have five services planned: July 2, July 16, August 6, August 20, and September 3. All five services are at 11:00 a.m. Watch this page for details.

Summer Services at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2022

Gimli Unitarian Church will re-open for the 2022 summer season on Sunday, July 17, 2020. Services are at 11:00 a.m. in the congregation’s landmark building at 76 Second Avenue. Dress is casual — after all, it’s cottage season! 

July 17 – Life Interrupted – The past two years disrupted our routines and tested our spirits. What did we lose? What have we gained? Where are we going?

July 31 – An Unwanted Reformation – Icelanders love to brag about the country’s peaceful conversion to Christianity around the year 1000. By contrast, the Reformation was embroiled in conflict and violence. And it was largely unwanted.

August 14 – A Cosmic Viewpoint – This year, NASA released the most amazing images ever of galaxies beyond our own. So why does religion still seem locked in an Aristotelian universe?

August 28 – Our Sources of Authority – Over two centuries, Unitarianism evolved from a Christian sect into a tradition claiming multiple sources. Do our roots still influence us? Do they matter? Or have we become a kind of spiritual tumbleweed?

Rev. Stefan Jonasson will preach at all three services in July.

Sunday, September 2, 2018 – How Conventional Is Wisdom?

Sunday, September 2, at 11:00 a.m. – How Conventional Is Wisdom? – The familiar expression “conventional wisdom” has become so commonplace that few people remember, if they ever knew, that it only entered the lexicon sixty years ago, following its appearance in John Kenneth Galbraith’s book, The Affluent Society, in 1958. While Galbraith used the term to describe “the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability,” often uncritically but not necessarily without merit, many people have come to think of conventional wisdom as something to be debunked, for it is often disproven upon closer examination. This leads me to wonder whether Galbraith was really talking about wisdom in the first place – or if wisdom is really all that conventional. Rev. Stefan Jonasson 

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Prof. Orlando Ferguson's flat earth map of 1893.

Sunday, August 19, 2018 – Progressive Revelation and Insatiable Desire

Sunday, August 19, at 11:00 a.m. – Progressive Revelation and Insatiable Desire – “When you live for the cause that progressively unfolds and reveals itself, your desires are under progressive transformation,” said Henry Nelson Wieman, “but when you live for satisfaction of them they are fixated.” I think I’ve just discovered why I remain hopeful and even optimistic despite my chronic malaise, why I am insatiably curious even about subjects I’m presumptuous enough to believe I’ve already mastered, and why I’ve never seemed to be fully satisfied when I’ve accomplished (or helped to accomplish) anything. Wieman’s insight helps to explain why we always seem to be on a quest for something more. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Sunday, August 5, 2018 – Koma heim / Vraćam se kući

Sunday, August 5, at 11:00 a.m. – Koma heim / Vraćam se kući – (“Coming Home” in Icelandic and Croatian) – During Icelandic Festival Weekend, Canadians of Icelandic descent celebrate their roots and ancestral ties. This summer, through the miracle of Ancestry.com and Facebook, Rev. Kathleen discovered an entire lineage of ancestors and relatives from Croatia that she didn't know existed. Kathleen and Wayne embarked upon a roots tour to find, meet, and learn about and from those living ancestors. This search into one's ancestral roots teaches us much not only about the past and where we came from, but how the past has shaped who we are now and who we are still becoming. Rev. Kathleen Rolenz and Rev. Wayne Arnason

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Dubrovnik, Croatia (Photo – Siggy Nowak / CC0)

Sunday, July 15, 2018 – Loafing on the Porch

Sunday, July 15, at 11:00 a.m. – Loafing on the Porch – “Night after summer night the supper dishes went unwashed while we loafed together on the porch watching fireflies seed-stitch the dark with gold,” wrote Clementine Paddleford. As people become more divided and distracted and overwhelmed, I am reminded that I once quipped that one of the purposes of the liberal church is “to bring front porch values to backyard neighbourhoods.” Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Front porches are ideal places for relaxation and socializing.(Photo – Strecosa / Pixabay CC0)

Sunday, July 1, 2018 – Amid the Noise and Haste

Sunday, July 1, at 11:00 a.m. – Amid the Noise and Haste – “Go placidly amid the noise and haste,” advised Max Ehrmann in his poem, Desiderata, “and remember what peace there may be in silence.” Although I’ve struggled against the temptation to rant and rave over the past year or so, despairing over the sorry state of public affairs, now more than ever it is important to remain calm and focused. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Does the daily news make it hard to decide whether to cover your ears or your eyes?
(Photo – Gerd Altmann / Pixabay CC0)